<Begin Segment 12>

MN: But, I mean, it wasn't all smooth going on the run. You've had some accidents.

Mo N: Yeah, thirteenth year, truck got rear ended and flipped over in the air like that. Came down on the cab. I thought for sure somebody would be dead. Worst part of it was one of the ladies had both her forearms busted. But we were lucky, yeah. Thirteenth year. But outside of that, yeah, we've been real fortunate. The weather's been pretty good. It's rained on us a little while in the beginning, the wind blows, but those are the ones you remember, the ones that are real tough. But when it's ceremony all the time, this is ceremony. That's why we ask people not to listen to the radio, not to get involved with the electrical stuff, leave their telephones off, all that kind of stuff. We open and close the day with a prayer, then we have a meeting and we talk, all of our meals are shared, take turns... make a spirit plate of all the things we eat, offer it to the spirits of the land, all kind of stuff. When I say something like "spirits of the land," people think... but what we found is that over the years, things would happen, then there'd be a suggestion, "Why don't you make an offering, a spirit plate?" So we started doing that. And the flame would go out for no reason. Oh, shit, we'd have to drive all the way back to Koyasan and get it, stuff like that. So we started doing that, we started making offerings to the four corners where we camp, every fresh camp we offer tobacco to the spirits of the land, ask them for forgiveness, ask them for permission to stay and all that. It got to the point where we don't have those kind of problems no more.

And we find that if we violate some of the things that we evolved into over the years, then shit happens. Like last year, we had this thing about no listening to the radio and stuff like that. One of the cats talking about, "They told me I couldn't listen to my radio," said, "I wouldn't have come." Said, "I'm gonna listen to it," so he did. And other time, guy's talking on the phone to his girlfriend, goddamn flame went out. It was our last day, or next to last day. "What are we gonna do?" We decided, well, okay, we'll get the flame going again, we'll light a match and get it going, and we'll carry it back and then we'll pray like hell we won't make any more mistakes on this kind of stuff. But we find that there are these things that if you're western, technologized, rationalized human being, that you won't believe that they happen. When you get out there and you live in the world, things happen, and you've got to appease them, the energies out there that you don't control. Yeah, we have a pretty nice run now. We got it in pretty good shape, we know how to respect the Earth Mother and all the spirits of this land.

That's the thing, I guess, what I want to say about what the run teaches us, right? Is that the native teachings involve respect for the land and its people, and the animals and all their environment. That's a for-real project, that's an ongoing learning project. You don't have to get all uptight about it, they should be serious about learning and being aware and in tune with what the environment is trying to tell you. You can't go around like what they're doing right now, right? Burning the forest down so they can put cattle on it, shit like that, or drill and mess with the water and all that crazy stuff that they do, right? All over the world for what? Lousy-ass greenback. Anyhow... soapboxing again, huh? [Laughs]

MN: Yeah, anything else you want to add onto any of this?

Mo N: No, I think that's all right. The run is a ceremony that represents our people and our experience on this land. So it's like the sun dance. The sun dance for me is homage to the native peoples and their ability to stay strong, focused on this land. They've been living here in harmony for how many thousands of years? White man says twenty thousand, right, native people say forever, that they originated here. It doesn't matter, long time, and lived in harmony here. Look what these suckers have done with it already. Lousy two hundred years, fucked it all up. Natives got this beautiful saying: "Whatever decision you make at this moment, pause to think about what the consequences will be seven generations down the road, a hundred years." I think that's a good thought. So that's what we try to emphasize: think about what the hell you're doing so you don't mess it up for kids down the road.

MN: Thank you very much, Mo.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.